People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed.It is not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive.
Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of questions.They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors.There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed.As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from one another, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory.The controversy is often referred to as “nature and nurture”.
Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological and genetic factors.That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics, and behavior is central to this theory.Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our behavior is predetermined to such a degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts(本能).
Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claimed that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act.A behaviorist, B.F.Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings.The behaviorists’ view of the human being is quite mechanistic; they maintain that, like machines, humans’ respond to environmental stimuli(刺激) as the basis of their behavior.
Socially and politically, the consequences of these two theories are far-reaching.In the US, for example, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligence tests.This leads some “anature” proponents to conclude that blacks are genetically lower in status than whites.Behaviorists, on the contrary, say that the differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often robbed of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy, and that, as a result, they do not develop the same responses that whites do.
Either of these theories cannot yet fully explain human behavior.In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes.That the controversy will continue for a long time is certain.
【小题1】This passage is mainly concerned with .
A.relation between personality and behavior |
B.relation between behavior and environment |
C.different accounts of patterns of human behavior |
D.different theories of the formation of human behavior |
A.creators | B.advisors | C.advocates | D.judges |
A.the considerable influence of the two theories |
B.differences between the blacks and whites |
C.racial discrimination in the United States |
D.different responds to intelligence tests |
A.To call our attention to the changes of human behavior. |
B.To urge scientists to do more research in social science. |
C.To give us a detailed explanation of human behavior. |
D.To present an argument in the field of social science. |
科目:高中英语 来源:2012-2013学年广东省惠州市实验中学高一上学期期中考试英语试卷(带解析) 题型:阅读理解
Different people use different languages. We Chinese speak Chinese, and, most of us are learning a foreign language. But there is another kind of language we need to know --- the language of the body.
All over the world, people “talk with their hand, with their heads and with their eyes.” When Japanese people meet, they bow. When Indians meet, they put their hands together. What do American and British do? Americans are more imformal(不拘小节的) than the British. They like to be friendly. They use first names, they ask questions and they talk easily about themselves. When they sit down, they like to relax in their chairs and make themselves comfortable. British people are more reserved(保守的). They take more time to make friends. They like to know you before they ask your name.
When British or American people meet someone for the first time, they shake hands. They do not usually shake hands with people they know well. Women sometimes kiss their women friends, and men kiss women friends (on one cheek only). When a man meets a man, he just smiles, and says, “Hello.” Men do not kiss each other, or hold hands. Even fathers and sons do not often kiss each other.
【小题1】In the passsage, the writer thinks that body language is ______________.
A.uselss | B.difficult | C.quite easy | D.important |
A.different countries hav the same body language. |
B.different countries have different body anguages. |
C.people in Asia share the same body language. |
D.many people only use their body language. |
A.sit straight | B.never sits down | C.makes fun of you | D.sits freely |
A.imopssible | B.too easy | C.too difficult | D.slow |
A.men | B.women | C.British | D.Americans |
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科目:高中英语 来源:2015届广东省惠州市高一上学期期中考试英语试卷(解析版) 题型:阅读理解
Different people use different languages. We Chinese speak Chinese, and, most of us are learning a foreign language. But there is another kind of language we need to know --- the language of the body.
All over the world, people “talk with their hand, with their heads and with their eyes.” When Japanese people meet, they bow. When Indians meet, they put their hands together. What do American and British do? Americans are more imformal(不拘小节的) than the British. They like to be friendly. They use first names, they ask questions and they talk easily about themselves. When they sit down, they like to relax in their chairs and make themselves comfortable. British people are more reserved(保守的). They take more time to make friends. They like to know you before they ask your name.
When British or American people meet someone for the first time, they shake hands. They do not usually shake hands with people they know well. Women sometimes kiss their women friends, and men kiss women friends (on one cheek only). When a man meets a man, he just smiles, and says, “Hello.” Men do not kiss each other, or hold hands. Even fathers and sons do not often kiss each other.
1.In the passsage, the writer thinks that body language is ______________.
A.uselss B.difficult C.quite easy D.important
2.Which of the following is right?
A.different countries hav the same body language.
B.different countries have different body anguages.
C.people in Asia share the same body language.
D.many people only use their body language.
3.If an American friend visits you, he probably _____________.
A.sit straight B.never sits down C.makes fun of you D.sits freely
4.If you want to make a British friend, you may feel it ________________.
A.imopssible B.too easy C.too difficult D.slow
5.Generally speaking, ____________ kiss more often.
A.men B.women C.British D.Americans
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科目:高中英语 来源: 题型:阅读理解
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